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Sakura weaved hand signs at the far end of a field, facing her newest captive: another low-life the Akatsuki had been hired to take care of. The man had been involved in a crime ring in the Land of Earth, smuggling weapons and people across the border. But as far as Sakura cared, it was another easy job for her.
That man was wanted either dead or alive, and he’d be a good test subject for her experiment either way. Now, it was her chance to finally perfect the Mind Transfer Jutsu.
He squirmed against his restraints like a worm, trying to break free of the rope. However, Sakura had made sure to use a special type of knot that would be hard to break. She rolled her eyes as she glared at him.
She thought, You’re not going to get out, you idiot!
She shook her head. There was no point in getting worried over nothing. That guy wouldn’t even stand a chance against her even if he somehow broke out, since he only had middling taijutsu skills and decent earth style.
Sakura held out her finger and read through the notes one last time, just to make sure she got it all down. As she reviewed the steps, she pictured Ino going through training like this as a little girl. Even now, Sakura couldn’t help but be impressed that Ino had learned it all at such a young age.
She was so clever, wasn’t she?
Then, she muttered to herself, “Now, if I can get this part right…”
But before Sakura could cast the jutsu, she heard the sound of footsteps right behind her. She whipped around, kunai in hand. She caught a faint glimpse of bluish skin and black robes.
Shoot!
It was her partner, Kisame, who had returned. He clutched the Samehada instinctively, as if he were about to defend himself from an attack. However, he quickly stowed away his weapon and bowed politely.
Sakura dropped her kunai and gasped, “Oh, I’m so sorry!”
Her inner self thought, What the hell were you doing?
Still, the real Sakura didn’t want to fight. Pain had already dealt with yet another squabble between Sasori and Deidara, and she knew he was probably tired of Kakuzu killing his partners.
And besides, she found Kisame strangely… charming, in his own way. Despite his reputation as a cold-blooded killer, he
And there was something about the glint in his eyes whenever he talked about things he was passionate about, like the history of the Seven Swords or all of the different types of sharks that lived in the world. Sakura knew he saw her as more than just an ally, but as a companion he could trust.
He said, “My apologies as well, Sakura. I probably should have warned you.”
She wondered, How has this group even managed to stay afloat?
“What is it you’re doing,” Kisame asked curiously, “I assume it’s not just torture?”
He absentmindedly fiddled with the hilt on the Samehada, rubbing his finger along the edge. Meanwhile, Sakura brushed her finger along the edge of the notebook.
Sakura cracked her knuckles and winked.
She said, “Well, you know how I stole some stuff from the Yamanaka clan compound the last time I infiltrated the Hidden Leaf?”
He nodded slowly.
“Why, yes. You seemed rather excited to find something, but I’m not sure what it was.”
Sakura picked the book back up and flipped through the pages.
As she flipped through them, she said, “Well, I broke into their compound for several reasons. To get to the point, one of those reasons was because I wanted to see if I could recreate their Mind Transfer jutsu.”
Sakura shared some of her notes with him, tapping on one of the pages to draw his attention.
“It could be useful for infiltration missions, espionage, and deceiving our enemies. Besides, it serves that clan right.”
Sakura would never forgive them for what they did to Ino. She had given the Yamanaka clan everything: her time, her energy, and even her dreams of a life with Sakura. And yet that wasn’t enough for the clan. No, the Yamanakas killed their heiress just for a single accident on a mission. Ino’s anguished tears as she approached the gallows still echoed in Sakura’s mind after all of these years, as well as her own failed attempt to rescue Ino from that grim fate. And what better way to punish the clan than to use their very own techniques against them?
Sakura shook her head and looked back down at her notes.
I won’t let them get away with it, Ino.
The notes detailed how the flow of chakra was supposed to move when casting the jutsu. It also described how the target’s soul was supposed to be put in a dormant state while the caster controlled their body. There were even parts on how to adjust to bodies with different bodily abilities, such as the body of a person with a kekkei genkai, a colorblind person, or a person with missing limbs.
Kisame rubbed his chin as he leaned over Sakura’s shoulder. His expression became mildly concerned as he read through the notes with her. He may not have known much about Mind Transfer Jutsu, but it was clear that this jutsu was incredibly complicated. It described how the caster had to carefully aim their chakra at certain areas of their target’s brain, as well as how they needed to control the body.
Kisame started to wonder how the Yamanaka clan even managed to perfect something so risky. All of a sudden, he remembered the stories he had heard about the dangers of copying the secret jutsus of clans. He tried to hide his concern behind a polite smile, but Sakura saw sweat beading on his forehead.
“Interesting,” he said, “But do be careful. There were many who tried to recreate the Hozuki clan’s jutsu, but it ended in disaster. There’s a reason those clan jutsus stay in the clans.”
However, Sakura appeared to be unfazed by Kisame’s concern.
“I will, don’t worry,” she said.
Sakura flipped through the rest of her notebook.
“That’s just a little bit of the notes, and I made sure to practice a lot of this over the last few months.”
A part of Sakura couldn’t wait to see how Kisame would react once she finally showed him the jutsu. She could already see him congratulating her for her work, or maybe even the two of them using their skills together. She could use mind transfer to infiltrate her foes and break them from within, while Kisame could wreck their weakened forces.
“So, what do you think?”
Kisame slowly shuffled to the side and nodded. His eyes still looked wary, but Sakura could tell he didn’t want to argue. Besides, they still had to actually test out the jutsu before he could give a final judgement.
“Very well. But I’ll try to supervise.”
“Alright. I think it’s about time, so get ready,” Sakura said to herself.
She rolled up her sleeves and cracked her knuckles, staring down the hostage. His eyes turned as wide as dinner plates as he squirmed even harder. If it weren’t for the gag in his mouth, his screams would have rang out across the woods.
Then, Sakura glanced over at Kisame before gesturing towards the binds.
“Cut those wires once I’m in,” she muttered to Kisame, “Worst-case scenario, there’s a failsafe to unlock them.”
“I shall.”
He readied his blade and slowly crept over to the hostage. The guy cried out, and tears trailed down his face.
Sakura formed the jutsu sign and nodded, ready to finally give it a whirl. However, Kisame was now starting to run, and his path was going right into the path of Sakura’s jutsu.
She cried out, “No, don’t-“
But it was too late. Kisame had disappeared in the blink of an eye as if he had been teleported. Sakura tried to look for any trace of him, but she couldn’t find a single clue.
She felt fear at the back of her mind. Was Kisame dead? Did someone take him away? And why did he disappear?
“No, I’ll find you! Just- Please, wait for me!”
Suddenly, her mind drifted back to memories of that day. She had tried so desperately to wake up Ino, to heal her, in the faintest hope that she was still alive somehow. Was her search for Kisame going to be in vain?
Tears began streaming down Sakura’s eyes as her heartbeat pounded in her chest.
The hostage was still tied up, screaming in fear. However, Sakura could barely even notice him as she tried to find her partner-in-crime. Even worse, she started to feel woozy.
Sakura suddenly collapsed on the ground and passed out, still unsure of what had truly happened.
Kisame blinked in confusion as he woke up from the effects of Sakura’s jutsu. Or at least, he figured that that was what made him fall unconscious. It looked like he was in a black void or something, but that didn’t feel right. He tried blinking his eyes again and rubbing them, but he still only saw darkness all around him.
He asked himself, “What happened?”
Kisame stretched out his limbs and checked himself for any signs of injury, which there weren’t. He wasn’t in pain at all either. However, he had a feeling that he was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be.
He slowly stood back up and glanced around his surroundings, only to be met with even more darkness. As he slowly adjusted to his surroundings (or lack thereof,) it felt like he was standing in mid-air: stable but not feeling firm ground.
Kisame asked, “Did she put me under a genjutsu?”
He vaguely remembered hearing about some genjutsu from the early days of the Hidden leaf that trapped people in a black void. And frankly, considering Sakura’s talent with genjutsu, that made enough sense to him. After all, that was how they usually fought: Sakura would use her genjutsus to trap or distract their targets, and Kisame would strike them down with his offensive power.
Kisame cracked his knuckles.
“Well, looks like I’ll have to release it myself,” he said to himself.
He tried to do just that, but nothing happened. He took a deep breath and tried again, but it was still the same problem as before. Kisame tried again and again, but eventually he gave up. He didn’t even feel a slight imbalance in his chakra that he could correct in the first place.
“Maybe there’s a trick to this one,” he guessed as he glanced all around him, “Though I don't know what that would be.”
He tried to walk around in search of some sort of thing he could break, but the darkness was seemingly endless. He couldn’t even hear the sound of his own footsteps as he wandered around inside the dark void. Kisame clutched his sword nervously, trying to look for any signs of foes.
Think…
All of a sudden, Kisame heard what sounded like Sakura yelling to herself in sheer frustration.
She shouted, “What the hell is going on?”
He whipped around, Samehada in hand, and stared up at the source of the noise. It resembled Sakura’s silhouette, except it absolutely towered over Kisame. There was also some writing on the silhouette’s forehead, but Kisame couldn’t quite make out what it said since part of it was covered up by her hand.
She glared straight down at Kisame with a furious look in her eyes.
“Cha! What the hell are you doing in here,” the strange figure shouted before throwing a punch in his direction.
Kisame tried to parry the blow with the Samehada, but it got knocked out of his hand. Luckily, he was able to snatch it out of the way. The silhouette bonked him on the head, causing him to stumble for a moment before he tried to jump out of the way.
The silhouette seemed to teleport over mere moments later, pummeling hom with more blows. Kisame felt his heart pumping with pure excitement.
“How interesting,” he said, “You’re somehow able to move instantaneously.”
The silhouette smirked, “Oh yeah? I’ll show you something interesting!”
She spun around, swiping Kisame with her left leg. He caught himself and jumped onto her arm.
He charged towards her head, hoping to cut some of her more vulnerable parts. However, the silhouette swatted him off as if he were a mere mosquito, causing him to tumble down.
Strangely enough, Kisame didn’t notice any impact from the fall, nor did he really notice any blood from the injury. However, he could still feel the sheer weight of her punch. He clutched the site of the blow and tried to size her up.
Kisame wondered, What’s going on?
He nicked her leg with the Samehada, but she hardly even noticed it. He then scrambled around behind her, hoping to find a way to at least incapacitate her.
Kisame weaved hand signs and called out, “Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!”
A dome of water formed around the silhouette, but she burst out of it as easily as popping a bubble. Kisame and the silhouette kept trading blows, looking for a crack in the other’s defenses. It felt like the fight would never end.
The silhouette cackled as she tried to catch Kisame.
“Not bad!”
“Why, thank you.”
He tried to summon some sharks to help out, but none came. He ducked down just in time to block a strike from the silhouette’s free hand. Then, he slipped out of her hand.
How did that happen?
Kisame wondered if someone had set up a barrier to prevent summons from entering the battlefield. After all, his summons were easier to use for raw damage than Skaura’s slug summon was.
“No matter,” he figured, “I can adapt.”
Instead, he cracked his knuckles and used his Water Shark Bullet technique. A massive great white made of pure water burst forth from his hands, and he hopped right in, flying straight for Inner Sakura. He slashed and slashed with the Samehada, but he didn’t notice any of her chakra getting siphoned off.
Kisame glanced at the silhouette curiously. He suddenly remembered the fierce look in Ameyuri Ringo’s eyes whenever she got in a fight, the kind of look that made his heart pound even harder whenever they fought together. There was something about both of them he couldn’t get out of his mind. He wanted- No, he needed to fight them even longer, and better than he ever fought before. He needed to let all of his energy and passion out at once.
Kisame leaped back and laughed to himself, staring into the silhouette’s eyes.
“Yes! Now this is a fight I’ve been looking for!”
He needed something large in scale if he wanted to deal serious damage. He gathered more chakra in the palms of his hands, readying an even more powerful water-style jutsu.
All of a sudden, Kisame noticed the silhouette winding up her arm as if she was ready to throw an especially strong punch. Kisame tried to jump out of the way, but the silhouette snatched him up in her other hand.
Kisame froze up and stared at her in awe. She looked even more powerful and beautiful, now that she had him in his clutches, like the beauty of a wild storm.
He asked her curiously, “Who are you?”
That silhouette looked at Kisame like he was an idiot, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
“I’m Inner Sakura,” she said, pointing at the words on her forehead.
He squinted in confusion until he realized that those literally were the words on her head. However, he wasn't sure what that even meant. He stared in thought for a while longer.
Inner Sakura rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
“I’m Sakura’s thoughts, duh,” Inner Sakura explained, “I’m everything I think to myself but never say out loud. Somehow, one of us screwed up badly enough that you got stuck in my mind.”
Kisame thought, Is that why some of my jutsu didn’t work?
All of a sudden, the silhouette started laughing out loud, shaking her head in amusement.
She let go of him, but he didn’t fall. Instead, he just stood there in front of her.
Kiaame asked, “What’s so funny?”
Inner Sakura kept on chuckling and shaking her head in amusement. Eventually, she sighed and looked back at him with a strangely nostalgic expression.
“It’s like the Chunin Exams all over again,” she said.
Kisame guessed, “You went up against a Yamanaka?”
She rested her hands on her hips and smirked proudly.
Inner Sakura said, “Cha, it wasn’t against any old Yamanaka! No, it was against Ino.”
“Ino, eh? The real Sakura did tell me she once loved that girl.”
The fury returned to her eyes, but this time, it wasn’t directed at Kisame.
“She was everything to me! My rival, my best friend, the girl I loved! Then those bastards of a family killed her!”
She pinched at nothingness, as if she were trying to crush something with her bare hands.
Kisame swallowed a lump in his throat, “My apologies for opening an old wound. Um, what was that match like?”
Inner Sakura talked about how that match had gone. Kisame felt weirdly nostalgic listening to her talk about that fight, even though he never had a rival like Ino. A part of him wished he could have enjoyed a competition like that when he was little, as opposed to killing old friends and allies just because someone said so.
At the end of the tale, Inner Sakura sighed, “And I couldn’t get her out of my head at that! ”
Kisame smiled as he said, “No wonder she loved you, Sakura. I haven’t had a fight like that in a long time.”
She shrugged.
“Cha, not like you could hit me anyway. We’re inside my mind, remember?”
He decided to sit down, crossing his legs, while Inner Sakura rambled to him about the relationship the two of them had. For a brief moment, she seemed completely different from the force that had fought him mere moments ago. If anything, she just seemed like a more hot-tempered version of the Sakura he already knew.
All of a sudden, Inner Sakura clutched her head in frustration.
She shouted, “Cha! What the hell am I doing? I got to get you out of here! Who the hell knows what will happen if you get stuck here for too long?”
She grabbed Kisame and tried to throw him like a ball, throwing him as far away as she could. It looked like he was finally gone. She pumped her fist in excitement.
“Cha! I did it!”
However, Kisame just teleported back over to her. He stared at her in confusion.
She jumped back and shouted, “Gah! How the hell did you come back?”
“I have no idea.”
Inner Sakura balled her hands into fists and shouted, “Ugh, looks like the real me will have to figure things out. If she can!”
Meanwhile, the real Sakura felt a pounding headache as she woke back up. Her vision was blurry as she tried to find a place to rest. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, trying to rid herself of it.
Sakura muttered, “Just go away…”
She stumbled against a tree, flopping down on the ground like a sack of potatoes. Her head felt as heavy as a sack of bricks, and the rest of her body felt no lighter.
Sakura stared up at the sky. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, just the harsh light of the sun making Sakura’ migraine worse. She rolled around to face the grass, just for a brief respite from all of the lights and noise.
Something in the back of her head told her that Kisame was inside her mind, somehow. It felt like the opposite of how the Mind Transfer jutsu was supposed to work.
“I’ll have to tell Kisame I’m sorry,” she sighed, “If I can even fix this mess.”
Though she had no idea how to even fix it.
Sakura stood back up and shuffled over to her pack of supplies. She figured that there was a way to undo her mistake.
She popped a pain killer and read through her notes. After the list of notes describing the ins and outs of how the Mind Transfer jutsu worked, there was a section on how to release it. She nodded along, thinking about how she had managed to drive Ino out of her mind. Fortunately, the hostage was still tied up against the pole, and he seemed too tired to scream.
Sakura followed the instructions down to the letter, placing all of her focus onto her hands and her mind.
She called out, “Release!”
There was a strange pulsating sensation in her head, and the pain seemed to fade away for a brief moment. She could faintly see what looked like a ghostly mirage of Kisame, but she couldn’t seem to touch him.
She muttered, “Kisame? Can you hear me?”
Seconds later, the mirage disappeared like a vapor and the headache came back at full force. It throbbed and pulsed, as if something was physically stuck in her head. She wanted to lie down from the pain , but she knew she’d have to hold on for a little longer.
Sakura tried to tweak her chakra flow subtly, just to see if the mirage would slowly turn back into the real deal.
She shouted, “Release!”
However, the same thing happened all over again, but the recoil was much worse. The migraine felt like it was trying to split her head open.
She groaned, “Shit… The pain killer’s not even working.”
Sakura crammed a couple more and chugged some water. She needed more time, more energy, more… something in order to finally break out. All of a sudden, Sakura felt her ring tingle, jolting her to attention.
She groaned, “Huh? The Akatsuki’s got another meeting? But we just had one a few days ago.”
Why now?
She heard the muffled screams of the hostage behind her.
Sakura sighed, “Oh, right. I forgot to knock you out.”
Sakura rifled through her belongings for a tranquilizer dart, which she quickly launched at the guy. Then, she did the hand sign and let her projection flicker into the room.
I hope Pain doesn’t ask too many questions, she thought.
The group was all there, except for Kisame of course. Deidara and Hidan were arguing about something that Sakura didn’t care about, while Sasori impatiently flicked his tail. Meanwhile, Konan stood there as silently as ever.
Sakura tried to not draw any attention to herself, but everyone noticed something was off. They all glanced at the spot where Kisame would be before staring straight at her. She felt a shiver down her spine, but she tried to hide her fear.
Pain asked, “Sakura, where is Kisame?”
She jolted in shock at the sound of his voice.
Crap! What should I say?
After all, she had no idea what he would do if she angered him. She had very little knowledge about what he was truly capable of, considering that she’d been a member of the Akatsuki for a couple of years already. Her gut told her that Pain could annihilate her in an instant if he wanted, and that could kill not only her but Kisame as well.
Sakura felt sweat dripping down her forehead as she tried to think of a good explanation. Pain’s eyes were staring straight into her soul, as if he was judging her for her errors.
“Um, Kisame couldn’t come. He’s not feeling well,” she said in a shaky voice.
Well, if he’s alive, that is, she figured.
Hidan crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.
He asked, “You sure about that, lady? Kisame’s too loyal for that kind of shit. Bastard’s never skipped a meeting.”
The other members all nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, one time he showed up WHILE he was in the hospital,” Deidara said, “The only way he’d skip one of these stupid meetings is if he was in a coma, hm.”
The other members all muttered amongst themselves, leaving Sakura to stare in the distance. What had she done? Why had she made that mistake? Did her own recklessness kill Kisame? She shook her head wildly, trying to chase away all of that fear. Excess fear would do her no good, and she knew that.
Hidan pointed his finger at her curiously.
“Hey, you didn’t kill Kisame, did you? Because, if you did, I’m sure Lord Jashin would love a disciple like you. Lord Jashin always favors the strong.”
Kakuzu grumbled to his partner, “Do you THINK she could kill him?”
Sakura pointed at him and shouted, “What does that mean!?”
If they weren’t all projections, she would have smacked him.
She thought, If only I could…
The four of them started arguing with each other, though Kakuzu’s voice grew increasingly exasperated. Eventually, Sakura decided to just shut up, since her forehead was still pounding.
Konan’s paper wings bristled as she rubbed her forehead in frustration. Sakura could faintly hear her muttering something, but she couldn’t tell what it was. Was it anger at her, frustration at the general situation, or something else?
Eventually, Sasori’s eyes flicked over to Pain in annoyance.
He grumbled, “Can we stop wasting time? If Kisame’s still alive, Sakura can just tell him about this meeting later.”
“Very well, Sasori,” Pain said with a quick nod.
He adjusted his posture as if he were ready to speak. However, he suddenly glanced over to the side.
Pain bobbed his head slightly and said, “Hold on.”
He and Konan disappeared for a brief moment before flickering back in, though Konan had an oddly embarrassed look in her eyes. Sakura and the others all stared at them in confusion.
Hidan asked, “What the fuck was that all about?”
Konan explained, “Lord Pain and I have some… personal business to attend to. We’ll have to delay the meeting for now, but we will meet again next week. ”
Deidara and Hidan hooted in delight and pumped their fists. Meanwhile, everyone else looked quietly relieved to be able to go their own ways.
Even Sakura felt the tension leave her body for a brief moment. Perhaps, she figured, there was a way she could figure out how to free Kisame from her own mind before the Akatsuki would meet again. She didn’t know if Pain would even believe the truth if she told it to him.
The leader gestured at the group and said, “All of you may leave except for Sakura. There’s something I must tell her.”
Most of the other Akatsuki members vanished, but Pain, Konan, and Sakura were still there.
He stared into her eyes with an eerie gaze that made Sakura’s stomach feel like it was twisted in knots. She tried her best to mask the fear in her eyes as she bowed down. Sakura’s head still throbbed, but her own nerves distracted her enough.
She wondered, What should I tell him?
Paid asked, “I understand that Kisame isn’t doing well, correct?”
“No, he’s not,” Sakura said, “But, um, he should be well soon. I’ll make sure of it.”
He slowly nodded.
“Very well, then. I won’t pry for now. However, if Kisame isn’t at our next meeting, I will have to question you, and there will be consequences. You understand that, yes?”
She slowly nodded, afraid to drop eye contact with him. Sakura had no idea if Pain was as divine as he claimed to be, but his presence sure was as terrifying as one.
“You may leave,” he said bluntly.
Sakura bowed down and said, “Thank you.”
Meanwhile, Kisame could faintly hear the sounds of the rest of the Akatsuki inside Sakura’s mind. It wasn’t clear enough for him to make out any words, but he knew that something serious was going on.
He pounded the air as if he could somehow grab Pain’s attention.
Meanwhile, Inner Sakura looked absolutely mortified as clutched her head and ran around nervously.
She shouted, “Oh, crap! We’re screwed!”
“It’s that bad,” Kisame asked.
Inner Sakura nodded rapidly before flailing around. Meanwhile, Kisame pounded even harder, completely unsure what he could even do to save Sakura. His heart began to beat wildly as he wondered what Lord Pain and Madara were even going to do.
All of a sudden, the sound mellowed out. Kisame walked a little forward as if he were trying to track the source of the sound. Thankfully, he could now understand the words more easily. It sounded like Lord Pain was going to let Sakura off the hook, at least for the time being.
Both he and Inner Sakura took a deep sigh of relief, and she collapsed to the ground. He slowly walked over and gave her a high-five.
Inner Sakura said, “LHeck yeah! Looks like we’re not screwed.”
“Indeed. But what happened, exactly?”
“Eh, it was going to be another stupid meeting, but Pain and Konan had to do something else.”
She held up her finger and said, “We’ve got one week to get you out of here, if you survive.”
Inner Sakura then leapt back onto her feet and cracked her knuckles.
“Cha! We’ve got this!”
Kisame twirled the sword around in anticipation. He couldn’t wait to see what Sakura could do.
And with that, the real Sakura flickered back to reality. Her headache was not quite as painful as it was before, but she still felt vaguely weird. And of course, she still had to free Kisame, no matter what.
I don’t want to lose him too, she thought.
After all, who else did she have to turn to? She could never return to the Hidden Leaf, even if she wanted to (which she didn’t,) and the rest of the Akatsuki were a shifty bunch. At least she could truly feel like an equal around Kisame.
Sakura asked herself, “Now, how am I going to fix this?”
She scratched her head, trying to think of another solution. Her original ideas didn’t work at all, and she had no time to run over to a hospital (or find another healing specialist that wouldn’t try to kill her on the spot.)
Suddenly, she thought about one of her old teammates, the rash but determined Naruto Uzumaki. He was never unafraid to try weird and risky ideas, and she could think of one knuckle-headed idea he’d probably try if he was her.
Sakura shook her head
“Ugh, this a dumb idea,” she groaned.
Still, if it worked, it worked. She stretched her legs and stared at the largest tree nearby. It was a tall, hearty-looking redwood, the kind that towered over anything else that wasn’t another redwood. She then stretched out her legs and ran at full speed towards the tree, hoping to hit her head hard enough to knock Kisame out of her mind.
“Cha!”
The tree smashed into pieces from the impact alone, with chunks of wood flying all over the area. Sadly, the only thing that changed was her headache, and it wasn’t for the better. She stumbled around, trying to pluck splinters out of her forehead, and grumbling in agony.
She whined, “Why did I do that?”
She then tried using various genjutsus on herself, hoping that the chakra disruptions would somehow force her body to eject Kisame back out. The world around her spiraled as she let visions circle around and warp, overwhelming her senses. But alas, there was still nothing.
She collapsed on the ground, overwhelmed and exhausted. A part of her wondered if this was it, if Kisame was never coming back, if she had screwed everything up thanks to her own pride.
She felt a tear run down her cheek, dripping down onto the ground. It was as if she were that sad girl again, feeling helpless to change anything about the world around her. That was the thing she hated about herself the most, the reason she couldn’t stay in the village, the reason she joined the Akatsuki.
“And yet I can’t even fix my own mistakes,” she cried bitterly, “I’m such a fool…”
She lied down on the ground, letting the grief flood her. Her body shook and her nose turned runny, but she couldn’t pick herself up. She knew Kisame wouldn’t approve of it, but it was hard not to cry after all of her attempts led to a dead end.
All of a sudden, another idea popped into Sakura’s head. She knew that the Yamanakas couldn’t use Mind Transfer Jutsu on more than one person at a time, since Ino had specifically mentioned that to her years ago (they used other jutsus when they wanted to affect multiple targets.) What if Sakura were to try to use the jutsu again on the hostage, but this time to force Kisame out?
She glanced back up at him and wiped away her tears. The hostage was still sound asleep from the tranquilizer, and he almost looked comfortable in a weird way. A tiny spark of hope grew in Sakura’s chest as she stared back at him.
She muttered, “I hope this works...”
She tried to bury the worries about what would happen if she failed. There was no sense in giving up so easily, not when she knew Kisame needed her more than ever.
Sakura used a kunai to cut loose the restraints on the hostage’s arms before leaping back. Then, she aimed her hands at him in preparation.
“Mind Transfer Jutsu!”
The moment she casted the jutsu, Sakura’s head felt weird. It was like something was coming loose. She instinctively rubbed her forehead and glanced back at the hostage, who was still sound asleep.
Inside Sakura’s mind, Kisame suddenly felt a strange sensation pushing him. He glanced back to see if it was Inner Sakura, but she wasn’t even touching him. Instead, she was dancing wildly and hollering to herself.
He asked, “What’s happening?”
Inner Sakura cackled, “You’re going back to the real world! Now we’ll both be safe!”
He stared into her eyes longingly as he tried to resist the push. He wished he could have spent a little longer with this side of Sakura, bold, brash, and almost overwhelming in her sheer presence.
Inner Sakura cocked her head and asked, “What? You want me to kick you out instead?”
“Why, yes. I would.”
A mad grin stretched across her face as she stretched her leg. Then, she charged towards Kisame at a breakneck pace.
She shouted, “Oh, you’ll regret this! Ha!”
Inner Sakura kicked Kisame like a soccer ball, and he flew like a rocket. Deep down, he knew he was going to be free.
Eventually, he could see a light, as if he were coming out of the tunnel. However, a small part of him wished he could stay just a little bit longer, just to fight her one more time.
Kisame asked himself, “Will I see her again?”
He could only hope that the answer would be yes.
All of a sudden, Sakura saw Kisame’s body flying out of her own head. It didn’t hurt in the slightest, but she still instinctively jumped back in shock. He tumbled out onto the ground and landed in an ungraceful pose, one arm flopped under his head while his spine was bent at a weird angle. He looked like a ragdoll that a kid tossed to the ground, and not like a dignified fighter.
Oh my gosh!
Sakura rested her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him a little bit.
She asked, “Are you alright!?”
He groaned as he sat back up. Then, he slowly turned his head around and stared at a bruise where he hit the ground.
“I’ve survived worse,” Kisame grunted.
Sakura felt a tear running down her eye.
“I’m just so glad that you’re alive,” she whispered.
Sakura offered to help Kisame back up on his feet, and he took her hand. Sakura noticed that his hands seemed surprisingly warm, and his cheeks had a slight pinkish tint.
I didn’t know he could blush, she mused.
She tried not to let it distract her as she cleared her throat.
“I’m not sure what really happened to you anyway,” she explained, “I think you might have somehow-“
Kisame finished her sentence, “Ended up in your mind?”
She blinked in shock for a moment, but a smile crept across her face.
“So you figured it out too. Glad to know I’m not crazy.”
Kisame chuckled to himself as he drew something in the ground. It vaguely resembled an outline of a woman, though Sakura wasn’t entirely sure what it meant.
“It’s a funny story,” he said, “I saw this figure inside your mind that called herself ‘Inner Sakura.’”
“Innner Sakura? Like that vision of myself I used to see when I was a kid?”
Kisame scrunched his face, “I suppose… She did say she helped you fight Ino in the Chunin Exams.”
Sakura nodded.
“Yep, that’s her, alright.”
Sakura stared up at the trees in bloom above her, a sight that was similar to the woods around her homeland. The last time she remembered noticing her inner self was while she was planning to escape the Hidden Leaf, staring at the trees that dared to bloom in spite of everything.
She mused, “I thought Inner Sakura had gone away after I left the Hidden Leaf. But I guess she’s still in there, somehow. I wonder what it was like to meet her.”
Kisame told Sakura all about his encounter with Inner Sakura, from their fight to the way she opened up to him about her past with Ino. Sakura noticed a distinct twinkle in his eye as he talked about her inner self, and she even noticed him kicking his feet. However, he stopped kicking his feet and gave Sakura a sheepish grin when he caught her looking at his legs.
“Oh, pardon me,” he said.
Skura chuckled, “I guess you must have liked her, huh?”
His cheeks turned an even rosier tint as he said, “Yes, I quite liked her. She was bold, powerful… What more could I want?”
Kisame stared in the distance, deep in thought. He and Sakura lingered for a while longer, watching the breeze blow the trees. He had a curious look in his eyes as he glanced back at Sakura.
“By the way, is Inner Sakura a kekkei genkai of some sort,” Kisame asked.
Sakura shook her head. That wasn’t the right word to describe her at all.
She said, “Nah, she’s just…”
Sakura tried to think of an explanation that made sense. She gestured vaguely while she thought about the phrasing, though she set those thoughts to the side.
“She’s just a ‘me thing,’ I think. My folks never had any special powers like that, not even an inner self the way I do.”
She snorted at the thought of her folks having powerful kekkei genkais. She bet they wanted to be powerful ninjas, but everyone that knew them knew that they were completely unremarkable.
“Heck, the rest of my family were either civilians or low-ranked ninjas,” she said, “It’s not like they would be the type to get kekkei genkai or pass down some fancy technique.”
She picked up an old leaf and twirled it around absentmindedly.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Kisame said, “Might Duy was a genin, but he killed several members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.”
Sakura had heard about Might Duy years ago. She didn’t know a lot, but she knew that that man was the first to master the Eight Gates. Heck, she knew his son was still a loyal Hidden Leaf jonin, even though she had never interacted much with him.
“Yeah, but he didn’t have a kekkei genkai either,” she said with a shrug, “His power was just thanks to loads of training, as far as I know.”
Meanwhile, Inner Sakura just… was there from the get-go. She was a part of Sakura, and that was that. What else was there to say?
However, there was something she knew she still needed to do. She glanced back at her notes before staring into Kisame’s eyes.
“By the way, um… I’m sorry for everything I put you through, Kisame. You were right. It was too risky to try to copy the Mind Transfer jutsu. I mean, I could have killed you if I hadn’t figured out how to get you out of there.”
He ruffled her hair and winked.
“No worries, Sakura. I didn’t mind it much at all.”
“You sure?”
He said, “Well, if you wanted to do it again, I wouldn’t mind being your lab rat. Just… make sure you can release it safely.”
Sakura’s cheeks turned a beet red in embarrassment.
She said, “Well, I’ll see what I can do. It’ll take a little more tinkering.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Kisame said with another little wink, “And then we can take on the Yamanakas together.”
“I like what you’re thinking.”
Kisame wrapped an arm around her and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. Her eyes darted over to him as she tapped her cheek. Then, she pulled him back in for another kiss. The two of them didn’t care how much time had passed. They were happy to be together, and they were happy to be safe.